So tense you can cut it with a knife

Hello and welcome back to the wild wild heart of darkness. If you haven’t already, I suggest reading “King Leopold’s Ghost,” a truly riveting description of the Congo’s history and how it has eventually become like this.

Since our last episode, it has been trip after trip after trip back-and-forth on mud and stones for about 90 days straight. If anyone was keeping count, the DRC is in fact in strong contention for “World’s Crappiest Roads.”

The political context here has brought with it extreme circumstances, as every party and individual is vying for power. Election campaigns are not allowed to start until one month before for all candidates. Which has its positives and negatives. For instance, the president doesn’t have to worry about campaigning and can concentrate on running the country until then. The flip side is, as he has made promises throughout his reign and therefore will not implement those until this time period. In Goma, he has finally hired Chinese works to construct the roads. Of course, his payments have been slow so they take their time.

The leading candidate is, of course, the person in power – Joseph Kabila. He has all the power and all the money. Note that in the DRC, people do not know who to vote for until someone pays them off. The last election the voters stood around outside the ballot locations. When approached and asked why they weren’t doing anything, they responded,”No one’s told us who to vote for.” This is a mindset engraved in the minds of the people as a result of corruption and violence. As President Kabila has full control of the non-UN aircrafts, he has suddenly rendered them all unavailable – thus, if a candidate wants to arrive in Kinshasa from the east or south they must fly into Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, then cross the border. This creates quite a logistical headache for all those involved.

With elections looming, this creates the perfect opportunity to take advantage. The rebel groups, armed bandits and all with anything at stake have arisen to the scene. Personal experiences recounted below - these exclude other occurrences such as beheaded woman's limbs found in plastic bag near body; NGO trucks robbed and marked for dead; confrontations between FARDC and rebel groups leading to further displacement:

Incident 1:

Location: Masisi

Shortly after our arrival one night a vendor was massacred. He was a big name vendor who had just sold one of his properties. With the transaction money in hand, he was closing shop when a group of armed masked men forced him into the boutique, locked the door and demanded the cash. Fearing for his life, the vendor gave the money over, at which point the masked bandits started beating him on the head until he eventually bled to death. Fortunately, a neighbor heard the screams so alerted the local authorities, who as you know are as corrupt at night as during the day. The other “fortunate” thing, as you could say, is that bandits didn’t see the vendor’s 3-year-old son, as he was hidden behind a tablecloth under the table. Poor kid witnessed everything. Everything.

Anyway, two nights later, around 18h30 near the old football stadium, across the street from where our program takes place, a civilian was murdered. The vendors clamored for a guarantee of safety from the local police, military (fardc), and local authorities. They said they wanted to close all shops unless this was assured. As a result, we decided it was too big a safety risk (our team is about 25 people, scattered at our base – where there is the male driver, 9 females, and me – as well as two or three hotels, depending on availability) and instead of waiting it out, head to our other site, on the other side of the nord kivu province. As it turns out, there was actually a 3rd person murdered and the night before we arrived, 4 men with guns knocked at the door of our base at the stroke of midnight. Luckily, the guard didn’t open it. Turns out the monusco commander, the un “peacekeeping” force here, wasn’t aware of the incidents until i told them myself. Wonderful.

Incident 2:

Location: Rutshuru

At our other site, another village probably 3 hours way but as a result of insecure routes, takes 8 hours, two nights after we arrived, there was an incident. It’s in rutshuru territory, which hosts a military training ground. Late that evening, a fardc prisoner escaped, grabbed a guard’s gun, and shot 2 men, severely wounded. Another guard pulled out his pistol and shot him square in the forehead.

As the elections near, the military personnel will be dispersed, further destabilizing the region. 

Incident 3:

Location: Kitchanga

Background info:

Masisi has for several years been a hotbed of conflict between the Banyarwanda (from Rwanda), comprising both Hutus and Tutsis, and the 'autochtones' -- most of whom are from the Hunde ethnic group. Between March and July 1993, serious fighting took place and some 14,000 Banyarwanda were killed while several thousand others fled to Rwanda. After the 1994 Rwandan genocide the local tribes -- infected by the propaganda of escaping Rwandan Hutu killers -- tended to target their attacks more on Banyarwanda Tutsis, prompting further exoduses. Furthermore, unrest has been brought about by the return of expelled Masisi Tutsis who -- helped by fellow Tutsi soldiers in the FARDC -- have returned to reclaim their properties. [More information: http://www.bukisa.com/articles/297109_land-power-and-ethnic-conflict-in-masisi-congo-kinshasa-1940s-1994]

Three weeks before election time and an extremely popular musician by the name of Fabrice Mupsiritsa, has been reported missing for days. He is a part of the Hunde tribe, which inhabited the Kitchanga area long before any of the devastating wars took place. They own a large portion of the property in Goma. Fabrice has refused to sing in support of President Kabila’s campaign, which has been cited as the cause for his disappearance.

His friends, families, fans and persons of the same tribe from Goma to Kitchanga to demonstrate and protest his disappearance. They throw rocks at the local police. They effectively block certain key roads and burn cars that dare to come within striking distance. Later, the musician has reported to have been found, alive but very badly beaten in the local Goma hospital.

The next day’s attempt to make it to Kitchanga is successful. It turns out the night before, the Mai-Mai rebel group arrived, then were chased out by the FARDC (Congolese military). In Kitchanga, a roundpoint at the center of town literally divides the three main tribes of people: Hundes, Hutus and Tutsis. As our team is enjoying a soccer match with the locals, we hear reports of a disturbance. Rushing into the vehicles we find hiding places at the local parish. As we angle for a good view of the rioters run past us to join the protest, shots are fired from our left. Shots then are fired from our right. It seems as though the FARDC have pushed back the rioters. But after an hour of regrouping they charge again at the roundpoint, carrying bats and rocks. Multiple shots fired. This continues for about 4 hours. It turns out a report says the local musician is actually dead, infuriating the Hundes. Later, this is proven false as his voice is heard over the radio and his weakened body is shown on television. We wait until 40 armed FARDC and PNC (police) arrive to escort our 3 vehicles back to the base under the pitch-dark, eerily silent atmosphere.

Some rioters being chased by FARDC. Other FARDC stand and allow this to continue as they are from the same tribe. 

As midnight strikes, gunshots are fired. Bam bam bam! This continues throughout the night and ranges from all areas of the village. It is the FARDC who have fired off shots to show their presence, for fear the Mai Mai will seize this opportunity to return and cause havoc.. The next morning we wake up and survey the situation. It is still, deathly still. There is absolutely no activity and all the shops are closed. The FARDC are all over the main road. Minutes after 8 am, BAM BAM BAM! Gunshots ring the atmosphere as a group of Tutsis have gathered force and are now beating on shop doors and throwing stones at anything in sight. More fire goes off. There is a pause of 1 hour when it seems as though everything has stabilized. Then suddenly, BAM BAAAAM-BAM. Multiple gunshots fired. The Tutsis flee the scene and the military chase them into the neighborhoods, ours including. An hour after that, they regroup and run towards the town center with sticks and rocks. This time, as the main road is blocked they take a side road… which happens to go right past our base, where our entire team has assembled. They throw rocks and crush every window in sight. They bang ferociously and crack open wooden doors. They attack and barrage our base banging on the walls and yelling at the top of their lungs.. fortunately, they can’t break through and move on. At this point, we decide it is best we return to Goma. Only the roads are blocked, so perhaps another road. Our security officer says that route being controlled by the FDLR rebels – later confirmed when 2 Mercy Corps vehicles have been shot at and robbed, leaving the workers to fend for themselves... We receive orders not to move..  there is a MONUSCO convoy, fully armed, returned from UNHCR to evacuate their personnel. As they pass by, we jump in line and the original convoy of 2 has now ballooned to 12. As we roll through town, the see this and further panic ensues. There is extreme unrest.

UN helicopter flying out the high officers in command.

Eventually we make it to the base on top of the mountain and have meetings with the local FARDC general and heads of the MONUSCO mission from India, Russia, Uruguay and of course, South Africa. The FARDC general vehemently says that it was not his soldiers that fired off the shots and he will get to the bottom of this, although he admits there is little he can do. Somehow, I end up as ad hoc translator and head organizer for the NGOs during the process. Meanwhile, troops are being flown in wave after wave to reinforce the current personnel. Typically, they would go by land but this situation is not typical. We all decide it is best to spend the night at the UN base under the cover of the “blue helmets” and return to Goma the next day at 5 am sharp.

We were car #8 of the 16-vehicle convoy led by the "Blue Helmets."

Incident 4 - news and politics:
Kabila opposition candidate has recently gone AWOL and self-proclaimed Head of State while insisting on "his citizens" to break into prisons. Intensifying and it seems as though no one is willing to go away peacefully. [Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15625434]

Incident 5 – natural:

November 7th sees the eruption of Mount Nyamulagira in the famous Virunga National Park. Fortunately it is not predicted to hit Goma. A wonderful metaphor for what is quickly stirring..